Fan falls to death during Vikings-Texans game

HOUSTON — A 25-year-old fan died after tumbling off an escalator from the fifth to ground floor while attending a preseason Houston Texans’ game at Reliant Stadium, city police said Friday.

The man fell during the Thursday game between the Texans and the Minnesota Vikings, Reliant Stadium officials said in a statement.

Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon said he could not identify the man until his family had been informed. He said the circumstances of the fall and what the man was doing at the time were still under investigation. The fan fell from the fifth-floor escalator to the ground floor, Cannon said.

“He was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital after we had had some fans get the attention of some Houston police officers who were nearby where the body fell,” Cannon said.

Police consider the death accidental, Cannon said.

The Houston Medical Examiner's Office confirmed in an email Friday that it had received the body. The medical examiner's website said the man died in a Houston emergency room.

In 2011, a firefighter attending a Texas Rangers game in Arlington died when he fell from the left field stands while reaching for a baseball tossed his way by All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Shannon Stone fell about 20 feet onto concrete when he tumbled over the left-field railing after catching the ball and falling into an area out of sight from the field as the Rangers faced Oakland. Cooper Stone, his 9-year-old son, witnessed the fall during the second inning.

In April, a statue of Stone and his son was dedicated to Rangers fans in front of the home plate gate at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Railings also were raised throughout the ballpark before this season.